What Sort of Team Do Liverpool Want to Be?

Jorrel Hato and Milos Kerkez have been linked with Liverpool but are different types of players. The left-back the Reds sign could prove very instructive.

Liverpool are going to win the 2024/25 Premier League. With a week between each of their final eight matches, it would not be a surprise to see them finish with a points total in the nineties.

While they recently suffered a disastrous week in other competitions, the Reds still topped the Champions League league phase and reached the Carabao Cup final. Doing either of these things would be an achievement for almost any other club, never mind the small matter of, you know, also winning the league.

What makes these feats even more remarkable is that you could put question marks over the future of many Liverpool players. Arguably the three most important are almost out of contract, while the world’s best goalkeeper will soon have one of the game’s best younger players in his position snapping at his heels.

There are also several squad members whom Arne Slot doesn’t appear to trust to start important games, while neither of the main options at centre-forward have consistently delivered this season either. On one hand there isn’t much transfer work urgently needed, on the other you can see the summer of 2025 quickly becoming a busy one for sporting director Richard Hughes.

The area of the squad looking ripest for recruitment is left-back. A recent article on The Athletic confirmed that the club is aiming to shop in this particular aisle of the big player warehouse.

“Strengthening at left-back is also on the agenda. Milos Kerkez, 21, is highly regarded, but Bournemouth would want around three times the £15.5m they paid AZ for the Hungary international in 2023. Ajax’s Jorrel Hato, 19, is another option.”

JAMES PEARCE, THE ATHLETIC

To this writer, it’s always more interesting to see the type of players being targeted, rather than worrying about the specific names or how much they will cost. No team ever wins the transfer window, no matter what you might read to the contrary.

As Hato and Kerkez are very different types of full-back, what are Liverpool looking for? Who, or what, are they hoping to replace?